About those unusual uterus banners up and down Market Street

Before you step in a pile of unsavory material on Market Street because you’re gawking at a banner reading “U.S. Out of My Uterus,” let us explain.

Seventy banners sporting big silver ribbons and eye-catching phrases will fly along Market Street through January to promote reproductive rights and the increasing danger they’re in at the state and federal level. The Silver Ribbon Campaign to Trust Women is the brainchild of two local women: Ellen Shaffer, co-director of the Center for Policy Analysis in the Presidio, and Sophia Yen, a doctor specializing in adolescent medicine in Palo Alto.

The two were moved to action by what they see as an alarming attempt to clamp down on reproductive rights in states around the country and at the federal level.

They cite as just a few examples the Obama administration’s recent decision to keep the “morning-after pill” prescription-only for girls under 17; Mississippi’s failed “personhood amendment” to declare that life begins at fertilization; and the federal legislation to fund government operations in 2012 including a continued ban on federal and local funding for abortions for poor women in Washington, D.C.

Begun a year ago, the Silver Ribbon Campaign is planning to host an event in the city later this month to coincide with the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision and the banners are part of the promotion of the event. Other slogans on the banners include “Her Decision, Her Choice” and “San Francisco is Pro-Choice.”

Isn’t it kind of like preaching to the choir, though?

“The choir is here, but the choir is looking for ways to pipe up more effectively,” Shaffer said. “We think people in the Bay Area have a role to play in terms of understanding this issue and how it’s being used as a political football.”

She said the campaign in the coming year will focus on spreading its message around the country and the world and sending supporters to places like Mississippi to fight against anti-choice measures.